Positivity barricades

The problem: You think you should be a more positive person but somehow you can't.
On personal development blogs (one of my favorites in this area is "The Positivity Blog" at http://www.positivityblog.com) I read a lot of calls to be more positive. You can read there a lot about reasons and advantages for being more positive. However, when trying to think positive something is hitting the brakes. Thoughts like the following come up:

• Thinking positive is not being realistic
• Thinking positive is to blandish the world although there is so much pain
• Thinking positive stops the motivation for improvement as everything will seem ok.
• ...

The reason: Being positive is behaviour and action but not a view limited to positive aspects.
Negative persons are usually driven by

• Negative interpretations of everything around them
• Negative expectations for the future
• Negative recalls of the past

So the problem is that even the negative person is not realistic and realizing only a part of the world's properties.

The solution: For being positive focus on your being and not on your view of the world.
Being positive means to trust in your power to

• improve the things around you
• love yourself and other people
  
• accept with gratitude what life brings to you

It does not mean to see only the positive aspects of life but to see them also.
But stick to the facts!

• Drop interpretations
• Drop expectations

If you see somebody smiling in your direction being negative may cause the interpretation that it is not you the person is smiling at (but somebody behind you). Being positive gives you the possibility to verify or/and smile anyway. It does not mean that you should expect that the person fell in love with you. ;-)

Related posts: How to be happy, When to criticize, Success with optimism AND pessimism, The power of intention, Optimist meeting pessimist.